My sister and I have 3 horses that we trail ride--a Morab, a Morgan and a Morgan mix. This blog is all about them. By the way, check out my two books "Trail Training for the Horse and Rider" and "Trail Horse Adventures and Advice.
I also have the most adorable, loveable cat named Thunder. I call him a mini Maine Coon. He is the light of my life when things go wrong. He will always listen to me and try to comfort and cheer me up. He does a pretty good job of it, too.

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Thursday, April 5, 2012

Great Evening Rides

I took Cole Train on another solo evening ride, and he was great—even though it was a chilly evening and I hadn’t ridden him the day before. I think the problem has been solved. I doubt if I will ever have a hesitation in taking him out, alone, again. Of course, he will be 6 in a couple weeks. I have found at the age of 6, horses grow up. He certainly has been acting very mature. I really do feel like I bought a winning lottery ticket with him.

We did our usual short ride to the second river crossing. We mostly trotted. A few times, he started to gain momentum and I stopped and restarted him. His feet seemed a little tender. He will be getting shoes next week, so that should help.

On the way home, we did some short stretches of trotting cuz I was cold. I didn’t dress warm enough. Anyway, he was great. Cruiser still hasn’t calmed down enough this spring to trot towards home. Usually, I can’t do it until June with him because he gets so worked up. I’m glad Cole was so sensible.

He was getting an A+, but when we were fairly close to home, he threw in some halfhearted trot steps when we were walking. It was no big deal, but to get an A+, he has to be perfect. As we neared the river crossing by home, he burst into a big trot surge. I stopped him and blurted out A-. Still, he did a great job, and I was very pleased.

I didn’t have a whole lot of time for Cruiser’s ride. I had passed my boyfriend on Starry when I was on my way home with Cole, so I knew I would meet him on the trail with Cruiser. Cruiser stayed sensible and we did some trotting until we found them—right where I knew we needed to turn around to make it home before dark. Cruiser was happy to see Starry, and told him it was time to go home. Cruiser cruised home gaiting. He isn’t supposed to be a gaited horse, but it does show up in some Morgans. Cruiser is a Morab (Morgan/Arab). If he is excited or in a hurry, he does an awesome stepping pace. We go as fast as a slow trot. Starry kept having to trot to catch up with us, but thanks to Cruiser, we got home before dark.

Tomorrow, I am off from work for Good Friday, and we traditionally get round one of spring shots. My sister and I ride in the morning, go out for lunch and then wait for the vet in the afternoon. I feed in the evening, so it makes for a long day. If I have time between vet and feeding, I’ll go out to eat and for a hike with my boyfriend. It will be awfully nice to have a long weekend for riding. They are predicting nice weather all weekend. Hurray!